Dec 6, 2021 3 min read

An Ambridge woman accused of having children in her car while selling a deadly batch of fentanyl-laced heroin that later killed a Canonsburg man in June 2018 has pleaded guilty.

Gracie Aisha S. Mitchell, 28, pleaded guilty Friday in Washington County Court to one felony charge of drug delivery causing death and was immediately sentenced by President Judge John DiSalle to serve 5 to 10 years in prison.

Mitchell was accused of selling heroin to Neil Alan Gossett in the parking lot outside of a Canonsburg business on June 17, 2018. Investigators said her young son and another child were in the vehicle with her during the drug deal.

North Strabane police found Gossett, 44, unresponsive while sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle parked on Hook Street in the township. He died the following day at an area hospital.

Gossett’s sister, Kellie, gave a victim impact statement in which she told Mitchell that her brother’s death has deeply affected the family.

“I will never know how this happened, how this took place. I don’t feel like I have closure,” Gossett said, while adding that she has a tattoo with her brother’s name on her left arm that offers both happy and sad reminders of him.

“I love you. I miss you. I’m sorry,” Gossett said, offering words to her brother as she finished her statement.

DiSalle told Mitchell that he hoped she could turn her life around and come out a better person after finishing her sentence.

“Obviously, you see what this has done to the Gossett family, and it’s affected yours as well,” DiSalle said.

Mitchell did not offer a direct apology to Kellie Gossett, the only family member of the victim in the courtroom, but expressed some regret for what happened.

“This is something I can’t go back and change,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell, who has been held at the Washington County jail since January 2020, asked DiSalle if she could have a “furlough” from jail before reporting to state prison so she could arranged custody for her son, who is now 9. DiSalle rejected the request, but said he would allow her to find help to process the custody papers.

Mitchell already pleaded guilty to earlier charges involving possession with intent to deliver drugs, and was currently serving 9 to 23 months. The longer state sentence will run consecutively to the earlier case.

Mitchell was originally scheduled to go to trial in late September, but she contracted the coronavirus during a COVID-19 outbreak in the jail. Her trial was rescheduled and set to begin this Wednesday, but she took the plea deal instead. In exchange for pleading guilty, Assistant District Attorney Rachel Wheeler agreed to drop additional charges of criminal use of a communication facility, child endangerment and possession with intent to deliver.